The effects of technology on midcareer librarians

Library Trends, Spring, 2002 by Marilyn P. Lewis

ABSTRACT

THIS ARTICLE INVESTIGATES TECHNOLOGY COMPETENCY REQUIREMENTS in the library profession. Using the position advertisements in American Libraries in five-year increments over a twenty-year period (1970-1990), the article examines and evaluates the advertised qualifications of positions and attempts to see if midcareer librarians--especially those who have achieved their degree prior to the change in M.L.S. curriculum that currently emphasizes technology--are "effective" librarians in the present and future job market.

INTRODUCTION

Libraries have seen many changes over the centuries. From the scrolls and clay tablets of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the Far East, to the early printed volumes and manuscripts of European universities and monasteries, traditional libraries have always been stocked with materials that help to fill a knowledge void. As the libraries grew and changed in size, stature, and mission, the patron base grew and changed as well. The evolving methods of research and information access have reflected those changes.

In today's American libraries, it has become an increasingly rare occurrence to find the traditional card catalog as the sole source of access to the library's collection. The number of electronic databases that either duplicate or enhance information access has grown dramatically. Physical possession of information (in the guise of printed material) remains the backbone of most library collections, but it can no longer be considered the only criterion for determining the quality and size of a library's resources. The lower costs associated with automation, the expanding equipment capabilities, the use of consortia agreements to increase buying and sharing power, and a patron base that increasingly expects technology to answer its information needs without relying on printed material have contributed to the expansion of technology. What began as a novel "oddity" or "toy" in technical and large academic libraries twenty-five years ago is now found in more and more libraries--regardless of size and location.

Today, new, "freshly-minted" librarians with their M.L.S. in hand appear to have little problem with the present technology and what might be unpacked in the next electronic database release (Buttlar, 1996, p. 44). Current M.L.S. curricula provide a cornucopia of technology classes and relegate many of the "traditional" library science classes to either elective classes or workshops (Hildenbrand, 1999, p. 676; Wanden, 1995, p. 30). But can the same be said about the librarian who acquired the M.L.S. degree twenty to thirty years ago? Experience in the workplace, formal classes, workshops, and conference programs continue to be part of the continuing education of the professional librarian. A review of programs scheduled at professional conferences over the years indicates that librarians have historically shown an interest in knowing what happens outside of their own library building/program.

Perceptions without facts to substantiate those perceptions should be considered suspect. Stanley J. Wilder (1999) has published data on the age demographics of academic librarians researching data on Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and he has reported:

   Library Manpower established that U.S. librarians were older than their
   counterparts in most comparable professions in 1970. Populations do not age
   the same way that individuals do; they may grow younger, remain the same,
   or age. In fact, the average age of U.S. librarians did not change between
   1970 and 1990. But between 1990 and 1994, librarians in the United States
   aged rapidly. In 1990, 48 percent of librarians were aged 45 and over,
   compared with 58 percent in 1994. (p. 1)

Wilder also indicated that ARL libraries hired more librarians with less years of professional experience than librarians with greater years of experience. In 1994, 63 percent of the librarians hired in ARL libraries had five or less years of experience. In the same year, 37 percent of the new hires in ARL libraries had six or more years of experience (Wilder, 1999, p. 18). Further comment from Wilder indicated that "many new professionals enter ARL libraries only to leave within a few years" (p. 19).

Many enter into librarianship as a second career, making the age of "newly minted" librarians automatically older when they search for their first or second position (Wilder, 1999, p. 23).

What does this have to say about the midcareer librarian--the librarian who acquired the "terminal degree" more than ten to fifteen years ago? How does that librarian compare technologically with the librarian who might be the same age but just received the M.L.S.? Can the midcareer librarian compare favorably?

BACKGROUND

Technology has evolved in libraries over the past twenty to thirty years, and librarians have to grow with the technology that libraries presently employ. Unless midcareer librarians were in the position to learn about technology "on the job" in the 1990s, they had either to take formal courses that would help them to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to become "techno-savvy" or to rely on others in the organization to organize and implement emerging technology. It is the author's contention that the use of all of these methods has made those librarians who acquired their formal "terminal" M.L.S. degree prior to 1990 capable "technocrats."